Intro Bio
Linda James was born in 1953 and spent her childhood in Charlotte, N.C. She received a BFA from the University of Georgia-Athens in 1974 and an MFA from the University of Chicago in 1977. Between 1999 and 2008, she pursued a doctorate in Modern European Art History with a secondary emphasis in semiotics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her focus was on the “performative self” of Yves Klein; she is A.B.D.
Linda's artwork has been shown in over seventy exhibitions worldwide and has been reviewed in numerous national and international publications including Time Magazine and The Chicago Tribune. She has written art criticism and analysis for many catalogues, journals, and books.
In the 1980s and 90s, Linda taught undergraduate and graduate level studio art. Between 1999 to 2012, she taught art history and art in women’s studies at the undergraduate and graduate level. Other pursuits over the years include professional fund raising for non-profits, stage design, graphic design, and screenplay writing. Listed in Who’s Who in America in 2010, she has been nominated four times for an Excellence in Teaching Award (but never won). In 2012, she took an early retirement from university teaching to return to studio practice and to explore more deeply the questions that are important to her.
Recent projects include an exhibition and catalogue devoted to artists in her Southern family dating back to Benjamin West (1738-1820), assuming the “guardianship” of the art of Nancy Hild (1948-2017), and writing an introductory essay for a book on the artist, Natasha Nicholson.